Tail Grab
by Stygian Hazard
Summary: On their quest for Excalibur, Kirito grabbed Sinon's tail as a prank. What he didn't realize at the time was just how much this had affected her. Finding her distressed later, he learns something more about her. And himself. Neither of them knows if this is a good or bad thing. The only thing they do know is that they want more. Kirito/Sinon. KiritoxSinon.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Now, this fan-fic isn't exactly one of mine. It used to belong to an author named furrballnerd. They're pretty talented. Unfortunately, they discontinued this fan-fic. Now I am hoping to finish it because I think the idea has a lot of promise.**

 **This chapter is going to be a lot like the original version, except with some differences here and there to have it more styled towards my writing.**

 **Like furballnerd, I saw the tail grab scene in the show and thought that it would be interesting to write a fan-fic based around it. I couldn't really come up with anything good enough to post about it though. I really think furrballnerd came up with a good idea. Now, I'm not sure if I'll be able to go in as good a direction as furrballnerd was planning on going, but I'm going to try my best.**

 **Also, attention, I have a tumblr blog where I post stuff (ideas and questions and thoughts and more) about this account. So… Follow me? The name is "stygianhazardff"**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, and I really wish it was real.**

* * *

Shino let out a small yelp at the sudden foreign feeling that jolted through her entire body. It was an odd sensation. She couldn't tell whether she wanted to moan or scream or whimper. She settled for mewling embarrassingly before turning to eye the reason for the feeling. Seeing a hand grasping her tail, she quickly figured out why the touch had felt so weird. She glanced up, following the arm up to its owner. Kazuto.

Kazuto merely grinned at her while holding onto her tail triumphantly.

Furiously, she turned around and swiped at him with serious intent to injure Kazuto. None of the others stopped her. That was good. She would have cut them down to get to Kazuto if she needed to.

Jumping back, Kazuto dodged each of her attacks with ease.

"If you do that again, I'll shove a fire arrow up your ass!" Shino yelled out, glaring at him with a look in her eyes with would have caused any other player to log out just to escape her. After a second, she turned back around to continue running down the stairs. "And then, after that, I'll do a lot worse to you."

"So scary…" Kazuto laughed, paying little mind to Ryōtarō commenting on his bravery from the back of the group.

Up in the front, neither Kazuto nor anyone else noticed the unsettled expression budding on Shino's face.

* * *

Kazuto closed the door to the room leading to a sleeping Yui and Asuna slowly and quietly before taking a step back. He yawned tiredly before smiling softly. There wasn't anything else better than being home with the family. He opened his menu and did a quick change into his normal home attire, which consisted of a simple pair of black cotton pants and a sleeveless black t-shirt. Other people always made fun of him for only owning black stuff, but he had to. It was practically his trademark. It wasn't for nothing that people called him the **Black** Swordsman.

Walking into the living room, Kazuto looked around. The place was a mess. He would need to do some cleaning later before Asuna found out. She hated it when this place got messy. He really didn't want to do it though. After the adventure earlier that day, which had taken far longer than he had expected, he was too tired to do much of anything. On the plus side, he now had the Holy Sword Excalibur. That was a major plus. He grinned stupidly at the thought of that gleaming, golden sword. He couldn't wait to test it out. Without thinking about it, he jumped onto the couch in excitement while thinking about using his new sword. A sudden gasp broke him out of his reverie to look over to his side.

"Huh?" Kazuto said in incomprehension as he stared into a familiar pair of wide, electric indigo eyes. "Sinon?"

Shino didn't respond. She remained completely still, with her knees pulled up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs as she stared blankly into space.

' _Is she sleeping?'_ Kazuto though, eyeing her warily in case this was a trick to get him to let his guard down. He quickly discarded that thought though. He was pretty sure that Shino didn't sleep with her eyes open. The time he had stayed over at her house after the _Gun Gale Online_ incident was proof enough of that, as well as the other few times he had seen her resting in the game. Still though, she wasn't dressed as she normally was. The outfit she was pretty homey. It looked a lot like what she had worn in the real world the night they had won the Bullet of Bullets tournament, although the color scheme was more in line with her avatar here. Regardless, it was probably because the game was just taking its time logging her off. All of their friends had a habit of logging off in Kazuto's and Asuna's house, after all.

Figuring that that was all it was, he was about to get up and walk away before she shivered slightly. It wasn't a lag issue, then. She was definitely still in the game. He took a closer look at her, realizing that this may be a bit more serious than he had originally thought.

Shino's eyes were completely devoid of life. They looked dull; it was a shade he couldn't remember ever seeing in them before. They always looked so alive. Well, except for that one time. That time when they were being hunted by Death Gun in _Gun Gale Online_.

"Sinon?" Kazuto said, a bit louder this time. Now he was getting a bit worried. "Are you ok, Sinon?" He reached out to touch shake her.

The second his hand touched hers, she flinched and pushed herself away from him. Shino's eyes blinked quickly as she turned to stare in shock at his hand. After looking up and noticing him, her eyes grew even wider and she pushed herself to the far edge of the couch. Once she was at the edge, she leaned back more, as if trying to push herself through the couch just to get away from him.

"Are you ok?" Kazuto asked, now definitely worried about his friend. He wasn't sure what could have brought this reaction out of nowhere. "Do you need he-"

"D-don't…" Shino gasped out, interrupting him. "Don't touch me. Please…"

"Huh?" Kazuto let his hand freeze in-between them. He didn't try to touch her, but he didn't pull it back either. He let it hand uselessly between them.

"Just leave me alone, Kirito." Shino said brokenly, turning to look away from him. Her eyes grew a bit shinier as she stared at the floor interestedly.

' _Did I do something wrong?'_ Kazuto thought, thinking back to everything that they had done today. Nothing really came to mind though.

Disregarding her earlier plea, he reached out to pat her on her shoulder to try to comfort her.

Big mistake.

In an instant, Shino lashed out at him angrily. Her hand slapped his without any restraint.

"I thought I told to not touch me!" Shino yelled out irately. She glared at him, harder than she had back in the dungeon. "How can you not even understand that?!"

Taken aback, Kazuto simply inched back a bit in shock. "I…"

"You just don't get it, do you?!" Shino continued. "I told you to leave me alone! And you… You just don't understand." Her eyes grew shinier as she continued to glare at him until slowly, her eyes watered over and slow tears started to fall down her face.

Unsure of what to do or say, Kazuto just looked at her blankly in shock. This wasn't the Shino he was used to. Even at her worst, she had never seemed this broken before.

"You just go around, all carefree and joking," Shino said, angrily trying to wipe away her tears. "You don't even realize the effect you have on everyone you meet."

"What are you talking about?" Kazuto questioned. Obviously, he had done something to upset her. He didn't know what, but it must have been really bad and really stupid to affect Shino so much. And that hurt the most. Under no circumstances did he ever want to cause pain for someone who fought alongside him; especially someone who also trusted and believed in him. "Please tell me what I did."

"You…" Shino started.

"I…?" Kazuto said, trying to encourage her to continue.

"You… grabbed my tail." Shino finished nervously. Her face slowly started to turn red as she thought back to that moment in the dungeon. That feeling. Her tail twitched nervously at the reminder.

'I grabbed your tail?" Kazuto repeated, not fully understanding the point. That didn't seem enough to warrant this sort of reaction from Shino. It had just been a joke.

"Think about my life," Shino said dully, not looking at Kazuto as she started bringing up her past. "I killed someone when I was just a kid. I was traumatized for so long because of it. I still sort of am. And for all of those years… everyone shunned me. I was a murderer. What kind of kid would want to be around a murderer?"

Kazuto just stared at Shino in shock. He hadn't thought that it had been that bad for her. He had thought assumed that there must have been someone there for her as a kid when he had first found out about her history; like a therapist or some adult alongside a friend or two to help her out. But to have had absolutely no one around? Not even his messed up life in _Sword Art Online_ was that bad. He was at least a teenager during that incident. But Shino had been a child during hers. To not have anyone around to help afterwards was just too painful to think about.

"Kirito…" Shino murmured, giving up on trying to wipe her tears away. It didn't look like she was going to be able to stop anytime soon. "I've never been touched before."

"What?" Kazuto asked. Surely, he must have misheard her. There was no way that he could have heard her correctly.

"You heard me." Shino said, not wanting to repeat that painful admission.

"But we hugged in _Gun Gale Online_ , didn't we?" Kazuto asked, thinking back. Actually, he had no memory of her being touched by anyone at all when the group hung out. Not even a pat on the back or a handshake.

"I can barely remember that," Shino admitted. "I mean, I remember feeling relieved. But that's all. I don't remember feeling you back then. I was too shaken up to take it in. Plus, our lives were on the line. I figured it was just a one-time thing."

"Ah." Kazuto had to give her that one. It was a pretty logical conclusion. And now he felt like an even bigger asshole than before. It was no wonder why Shino was angry at him.

Kazuto scooted a bit closer, slowly as to not startle Shino. He stopped when he was just a foot away. Mindfully, he rested his hands in his lap as he stared at her.

Shino eyed him warily.

"I'm sorry," Kazuto said suddenly, bowing apologetically. "I should have known better… I'm really sorry, Sinon."

"It's fine…" Shino said, looking away from him again.

"It's not," Kazuto refuted her. He had to make up for his mistake somehow. After a moment, he came up with an idea that he hoped would work. "I mean… look. I think maybe you just need to practice with someone. Preferably with someone you can trust. Then you can work your way up from there. It may take a while, bu-"

"It wouldn't." Shino interrupted breathlessly.

"Eh?" Kazuto blinked in shock. That was unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome. "Are you sure? That's great!"

"Not really…" Shino said sullenly, suddenly realizing the dilemma with that idea. It was a pretty big one too.

"What do you mean?" Kazuto asked.

"Tch," Shino chuckled humorlessly. "You really don't see it, do you?"

"See what?" Kazuto said, scratching his head in confusion.

"You look at them, but you don't see them," Shino said depressingly. "They're just there. I can't tell how I should feel about that. But then again, I guess it doesn't really matter. Not in the end."

"Um, do you mind filling me in here?" Kazuto asked, completely lost as to what Shino was talking about.

"There's probably some I don't even know about," Shino mused out loud, not really hearing Kazuto's question. "All I know of is Liz, Silica, and even your own freaking sister…"

"Cousin." Kazuto corrected her needlessly.

"They're all just so hopelessly in love with you." Shino finished softly.

Kazuto wanted to yell out in shock at that revelation, but he couldn't. His whole body was just frozen. He stared at her in disbelief.

"But you don't care," Shino said dispiritingly. "You have Asuna, after all. Why would you care that every one of them…" She trailed off and took a deep breath before continuing. "Why would you care that every one of us would do just about anything to have you look at us like you look at her? To have you care for us like you care for her? We would give up our friendship, our games, anything just to be able to hold hands with our hero…"

Kazuto gulped, his mouth suddenly feeling dry. Shino's words were hitting him like sticks and stones. Despite wanting to protest against what she was saying, he couldn't. One by one, memories of the past flew through his head. She was right. It was so obvious if he looked for it. But he never did. With his eyes set on Asuna, he had never really noticed nor cared about the others around him. Or at least, he didn't show as much consideration as he should have. And now with Shino, he was…

"I'm just going to log out now." Shino said, seeing that Kazuto wasn't going to reply. She was actually ok with that. It would be better for her to not hear a false reassurance from him. Not right now.

"Wait!" Kazuto reached out to stop her, but stopped just short of grabbing her hand.

Luckily, it was enough to still Shino's movement. She stopped reaching for the log out button in favor of looking at Kazuto's hand, which was less than an inch from hers.

"Wait," Kazuto repeated, a bit more firmly this time. "I… let me help you, Sinon. Please."

"What?" Shino looked up to look at Kazuto vulnerably.

"You said you had someone in mind to practice… touching with," Kazuto said, trying to speak carefully. This was both to put Shino at ease and to make sure that Asuna and Yui wouldn't wake up from their slumber. "You had me in mind, right?" That sounded kind of wrong, but it needed to be said. He had to do something for her.

Shino merely nodded slowly.

"Then let me help you," Kazuto turned his hand over so his palm was facing upwards. "I mean, that is, if you still want me to."

After a quick moment of deliberation as Shino stared at Kazuto's hand, she nodded again.

"Are you sure?" Kazuto questioned, wanting to be sure that this was what Shino wanted. If it was, he would do it. She was his precious friend, after all.

"Y-yes." Shino said, her voice cracking nervously.

Kazuto pulled his hand back and waited. It would be better if Shino made the first move.

"Give me your hands." Shino mumbled quietly, holding her hands out hesitantly.

Slowly, Kazuto reached out towards her hands. As soon as his were close enough, she reached out and took them in her own. Then, instead of holding them like he had expected, she pulled them towards her to wrap them around her shoulders. Kazuto could feel his face heating up as he felt her for the first time since the time in the cave.

As soon as his hands were in place, she let go and slowly brought her hands up to his shoulders. After grabbing them, she pulled him closer, or maybe she pulled herself closer to him. It was hard to tell. Regardless, within seconds, both of them could now feel each other's breaths on their skin.

"Are you ok?" Kazuto asked after a moment.

Shino's breathing was deep, quick, and ragged. Not at all how it should have sounded. It sounded like she was about to break down again.

"Sinon?" Kazuto asked again, starting to pull away.

"I'm fine!" Shino said, shaking her head. She took a deep breath before appearing to calm down, if only slightly. After a moment, she spoke up. "Now move your hands to my back."

' _Her back?'_ Kazuto thought, looking at her before realizing what she had meant. Slowly, he moved his hands off of her shoulders and down her back until they rested about midway down her back.

Shino's breathing picked up for a second before she got herself under control again. It was a lot quicker than before, which was a good sign. "Lower." She muttered.

Kazuto looked down at her head before obeying, moving his hands lower until they were right above her waist. He swallowed nervously. Shino was just as soft as he remembered. And being this close to her now, he couldn't help but start to view her as a woman. A very beautiful, very soft, and very curvy woman.

"Lower." Shino said again, this time more firmly than before.

Once again, Kazuto obliged her. This time, he move his hands until his little fingers were resting against her waist. This time, he made sure to avoid her tail at all costs. He stopped there.

Both of them waited. They weren't sure for what, but neither of them said or did anything for a few minutes besides breathe.

"L-" Shino leaned her head against his chest nervously before continuing. "Lower."

"Sinon…" Kazuto said uncomfortably. This was now officially going past friendship if he did this. He wanted to say stop, but the word wouldn't leave his mouth. His mouth just opened and closed silently.

"Lower." Shino repeated herself.

Wordlessly, Kazuto moved his hands lower until they were pressing down on her ass with the weight of a feather. He tried to ignore the exhilaration that was coursing through his veins, but he couldn't. The feeling of her hot breath against his neck was breaking his concentration.

Kazuto was sure that Shino could feel his heart racing.

Time passed slowly. At some point, Kazuto could swear that she had logged out due to how still she was being. Only the sound of her deep breathing convinced him otherwise. His eyes were beginning to close. Honestly, he was at his limit here. It was hard to tell if it was because of the dungeon, how late it was, or this situation; but right now his mind just couldn't handle any more. Right as he was about to open his mouth to say something, Shino moved.

Pushing herself forward, Shino leaned against Kazuto with all of her weight, causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards. Shino fell down on top of him. Instead of picking herself up, she wrapped her arms fully around him. She leaned up slightly so she could look at him.

Kazuto stared back, anything he was about to say was quickly silenced by Shino's next action.

Without warning, Shino leaned up and kissed him quickly. Chastely.

It was so fast that Kazuto could have said that it hadn't really happened. But it did. His lips were on fire. He could feel it. There was no mistake.

"S-Sinon!" Kazuto's voice failed him. He should have said that this was wrong. He was with Asuna. Shino and he were only friends. They needed to stop. But as he looked at Shino's broken expression, he just couldn't say anything. He wanted to say something, anything. Desperately. But right now, there was nothing he could say. Or maybe there was nothing he wanted to say.

"Please…" Shino whispered brokenly, begging him with her eyes.

' _I…'_ Kazuto thought, moving up deliberately.

"Kirito…" Shino licked her lips welcomingly.

' _I am so sorry, Asuna.'_ Kazuto thought as his lips touched Shino's.

* * *

 **OMAKE**

Kazuto hummed thoughtfully as he stared at the screen in front of him. This was a crucial moment here. It was a matter of life or death. The difference between being worshiped or being ridiculed. Arguably, it was both the best and the worst part of almost any video game.

The dreaded… The feared… The hated… Picking of your name.

"Shit…" Kazuto muttered.

After a few hours, he decided to just go with his default name in most games. Kirito, because his name was _Kiri_ giya Kazo _to_. _Kirito_. It was definitely better than like, 90% of the online population's usernames. Thankful for being done, he quickly clicked the next button. Then his eyebrow twitched angrily.

And here was his second worst foe of all time… Character Customization.

"This is going to take a while…" Kazuto sighed.

Needless to say, the several hours he had then spent creating a kickass avatar was quickly wasted due to a magic mirror item delivered to him a short time later by the Kami of _Sword Art Online_ , Kayaba Akihiko.

Due to that, at the same time, Akihiko gained himself a **very** bitter enemy.

* * *

 **A/N: Holy shit… I did it. I'm pretty proud of myself for working through this. Although, I need to repeat myself here, the original idea and concept was all furrballnerds.**

 **I'm a bit unsure of where I will go from here… But I will DEFINITELY think of something. I have several ideas. But still, by all means, feel free to give me yours too in the review section.**

 **Again, reminder, please feel free to follow "stygianhazardff" on tumblr for updates/thoughts about my fan-fiction stuff.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well it seems like people like it, so I'll continue.**

 **Also, attention, I have a tumblr blog where I post stuff (ideas and questions and thoughts and more) about this account. So… Follow me? The name is "stygianhazardff"**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, and I really wish it was real.**

* * *

"Ugh…" Kazuto groaned as he rolled over in bed. His eyes opened slightly before he turned again to avoid the sunlight streaming in through the window. Noises from downstairs and the smell of food eventually forced him to get up, albeit slowly. With a yawn, he pushed himself off of his bed to go and brush his teeth.

After finishing up, he started to make his way downstairs. A glance into Suguha's room as he passed by showed that she was already out of bed. It was a bit strange that she didn't try waking him up, but he wasn't worried about it. If anything, he was grateful. For some reason, he was feeling exhausted this morning.

"Onii-chan!" Suguha yelled from downstairs. "Are you awake?"

Kazuto half wanted to not answer an account of being so tired. But he knew that if he did, Suguha would just keep yelling. Or worse, come upstairs and drag him down to the kitchen. She was definitely strong enough thanks to all of her kendo lessons. "Yeah!" He called back after a moment.

"Hurry up!" Suguha shouted, now sounding a bit more irritated. "It's already passed 10!"

"Yeah..." Kazuto murmured, not even bothering to call back. He was a bit surprised at the time though. It would explain why it was so bright out. It had been a long time since he had slept in so late. In fact, he couldn't recall ever sleeping in this late except back when he was in rehab after the SAO incident.

"Onii-chan!" Suguha practically screamed.

"I'm coming!" Kazuto yelled, somewhat groggily.

It seemed like Suguha was actually waiting for him. He quickly made his way downstairs. Once he was there, Suguha motioned for him to sit down at the table impatiently. The table was already set with his chair out. Kazuto eyed it weirdly.

"It's about time you woke up, onii-chan," Suguha said wryly after he sat down. "I was worried that you were sick or something."

"Nah, I'm fine," Kazuto said with a careless shrug. Sitting down, he looked down at the plate in front of him in surprise. It didn't look anything like their mother's cooking. "Huh? Did you cook this morning, Sugu?"

"What's so surprising about that?" Suguha asked with a warning tone of voice.

"Nothing..." Kazuto laughed weakly before picking up a piece of toast. He slowly brought it towards his mouth and gave it an experimental sniff before taking a small bite. After chewing carefully, he swallowed it. Deciding it was ok, he sighed and started to eat the rest of it.

"Grrr…" Suguha glared at Kazuto angrily. Her fork was angrily tapping against the side of her plate.

"What?" Kazuto asked innocently, or at least as innocently as he could manage. It wasn't much. He was eyeing the fork in her hand carefully. Is she could wield that as well as a sword, he would be in trouble. Plus, is she decided to throw it, he doubted he would be able to dodge.

"I saw what you did there!" Suguha said irately. She pointed her fork at him. "You totally just sniffed my food to check if it was edible." She pointed at his piece of toast, as if to prove a point.

"You're just seeing things." Kazuto said, rolling his eyes before taking a bite from another piece of toast. In case of anger, denial. It was his best option.

Suguha didn't reply. She merely glared at him as she continued to eat her breakfast. The glaring continued for a while.

Kazuto would never admit that he didn't trust Suguha's food. At least not out loud. While she may be very talented at kendo, her cooking wasn't known to be that good. Or good, like, at all. Although he figured he could be biased, considering he was so used to Asuna's cooking. Compared to Asuna's food, all other food seemed somewhat lackluster. Especially that Ragout Rabbit… Nothing in the real or digital world came close to that. But then again, Ryōtarō once threw up shortly after eating Suguha's cooking. So it was probably better to be safe than sorry. He decided to only eat the toast.

After a few minutes of silence, Suguha finally decided to talk to him again.

"So what happened last night, onii-chan?" Suguha asked.

It was a harmless question, but the flashback it gave him caused him to choke on his food. Suguha started to get up in alarm until Kazuto managed to hold up an arm to wave her off. After coughing a bit more, he quickly grabbed a glass of juice and drank it all to try to swallow the piece of bread lodged in his throat. He sighed gratefully after he finished.

"Are you ok?" Suguha asked worriedly.

"Mhm." Kazuto nodded, unable to trust his voice right now. He wasn't ok. Not at all. Suguha's innocent question had reminded him of last night. The… incident that had happened with Shino. He had hoped that it was a dream, but he knew that it wasn't. What had happened, it had felt far too real. It had really happened. Shino and he did something that they shouldn't have last night.

"Onii-chan?" Suguha waved a hand in front of Kazuto. He didn't respond. She was starting to get worried. "Is everything alright? You got pale all of a sudden."

"Yeah," Kazuto took a deep breath. He tried to calm down before looking back at Suguha. "I'm fine. I just swallowed bad, that's all." Hopefully she would buy his excuse.

"Geez, don't worry me like that." Suguha sighed in relief. She moved back to her sit and sat down. Although now she was keeping a closer eye on Kazuto.

"I'm sorry, Sugu," Kazuto said, inwardly sighing in relief that Suguha had bought his lame excuse. He hated lying to her, but he couldn't just tell her the truth. "I'll try to be more careful from now on." That was the truth, at least.

"Uh huh," Suguha stared back at Kazuto quizzically. "So do you mind telling me what you were up to last night? You logged off really late, didn't you?" She wasn't going to let this go.

"Oh, that?" Kazuto asked, trying to buy some time to think up of a reasonable excuse. At seeing Suguha's inquisitive stare, he swallowed nervously before replying. "I was just talking to Asuna. That's all."

"For that long?" Suguha questioned. It wasn't really unbelievable, considering how close those two were. It still grated on her nerves that Kazuto was so enamored with Asuna, even after all this time. Still, that was love. She couldn't really get angry at him for wanting to spend as much time with the love of his life as he could. Especially after all that they had been through.

"Yeah." Kazuto nodded, hoping that Suguha would believe it. It wasn't like it was an impossible occurrence. Still, using Asuna as an excuse when he was… when he was doing something he should only be doing with Asuna. That stung.

Luckily, it seemed like Suguha did believe him since she didn't ask any other questions about last night. Instead, she returned to quietly eating. Kazuto decided to do the same. If he had paid just a bit more attention to Suguha, he would have seen her fuming silently.

' _Damn it,'_ Kazuto thought angrily at himself. After everything he and Asuna had gone through, he couldn't believe that he had cheated on her. _'I can't believe it… Asuna's going to kill me.'_

The odds of his death happening when Asuna found out were definitely high. She would likely kill him in game and in real life, just to be thorough. He wasn't looking forward to telling her the truth about what he had done with Shino while she was sleeping. He had to though, it was the right thing to do.

At hearing the clattering of plates, he looked up. While he was wondering about what he should do, Suguha had finished her breakfast and was noisily putting all of her dishes into the sink.

"Are you done already?" Kazuto asked. Normally, she was a slow eater. For her to finish this fast wasn't really like her.

"Yeah." Suguha said without looking at Kazuto. She checked the clock and frowned a bit. "I'm going to go up and take a quick bath before heading over to school for some kendo practice."

"I see," Kazuto said with a slight smile. He was glad that she had something to keep her occupied because right now, he wasn't sure if he would be good company. "Well, don't let me hold you up. You should hurry, Sugu."

"Right." Suguha looked over at him really quick before blushing and running up the stairs.

Kazuto stared after her. Once she was out of sight, he got up and methodically put his dishes away before making his way back up to his room. He had to think hard about what he would do next. Hopefully he would manage to fix things with Asuna. And Shino.

* * *

 **OMAKE**

"Well, this is sad…" Kazuto said to himself as he watched Ryōtarō try to kill a wild boar. And he was using the word **try** loosely.

"Stand still!" Ryōtarō yelled out as he missed again.

"Ok, this is getting sad." Kazuto sighed before getting up from his spot on the ground to walk over the Ryōtarō and the wild boar.

"Huh?" Ryōtarō glanced at Kazuto after seeing him get up. "Hold on, Kirito! I can definitely kill this thing. Just give me a second."

Ryōtarō ran forward and swung again only to miss horribly.

"DAMN IT!"

Once Kazuto got close enough, he slashed down expertly and killed the wild boar with a single hit. After it disappeared in a flash of small red lights, Kazuto turned to stare blankly at Ryōtarō.

"I tired it out for you." Ryōtarō said after a moment.

"Oh yeah," Kazuto said sarcastically. "That explains it all. And here I was thinking that you were just missing on purpose just to psych it out or something. Are you using inverted controls or something?"

"Tch," Ryōtarō scoffed at the question. "No."

Kazuto stared at him doubtfully.

After a moment, Ryōtarō caved. "Um… How would I check that exactly?"

Kazuto facepalmed. This was **not** how he wanted to spend his first day in Sword Art Online.

* * *

 **A/N: Poor Kirito; he doesn't know what to do at all.**

 **The next chapter will most likely have Sinon's morning after thoughts. After that, they will meet again. Now the question is, should they meet in real life or ALFheim Online? I'd really like your feedback on what would be preferable to see next.**

 **Again, reminder, please feel free to follow "stygianhazardff" on tumblr for updates/thoughts about my fan-fiction stuff.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This is harder than I thought it'd be. Ah well, I suppose it just means that I have more to grow as a writer.**

 **I redid the second chapter a bit, to make it more detailed and longer.**

 **Also, attention, I have a tumblr blog where I post stuff (ideas and questions and thoughts and more) about this account. So… Follow me? The name is "stygianhazardff"**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, and I really wish it was real.**

* * *

' _So this is what it's like…'_ Shino thought to herself glumly as she stared up at the ceiling of her apartment. _'To be a bad friend.'_ It was an awful feeling.

It wasn't a feeling that she was used to. Not only because she had never really done anything bad before, but also because she had never had friends before to be bad to. And now, finally, she had friends. And without even knowing them that long, she had irrevocably ruined her friendship with two of them at the very least. One was with the boy she admired most, and the other was that boy's significant other. Yuuki Asuna.

"Ughhh…" Shino turned over and groaned into her pillow pitifully.

This had been such a good morning until she realized that last night's dream hadn't been a dream at all. It had been real. A fact that is a bit ironic considering it took place within a VRMMORPG. A very well done VR that felt far too real. Even now, Shino could somewhat feel the phantom sensations of Kazuto's hands on her body.

Blushing, she pushed he face harder against her pillow in order to force it down. It didn't work. She turned and faced the wall, pulling the pillow down to hug against her chest tightly.

' _This isn't fair.'_ Shino closed her eyes, recalling the events from last night. Last night was a mistake. It definitely was. And yet, she wasn't really sorry for it. That bugged her the most. Despite kissing Kazuto, who had a girlfriend, she wasn't sorry about doing it. And now she didn't know what to do about it.

Grabbing her phone, she looked through her contacts. Her heart ached as she passed by Asuna's and Kazuto's names. Calling either of them now wouldn't be a good idea. Actually, calling anyone on her phone wouldn't be a good idea. Before the Gun Gale Online incident during the Bullet of Bullets tournament, she only had the phone numbers a few family members on her phone. After meeting Kazuto, she gained friends who had added their numbers to her phone. It was another thing to be thankful for because of him. The only bad thing about those friends right now was that all they were also his friends. And all of the girls, like her, had a crush on him or worse. Asking any of them for advice would be a disaster. Especially Asuna and Suguha.

At the sight of her mom's name, she paused. Maybe she should ask her. But then again, she had a good idea of what her mother would say. It would either to be to tell her to stop or to confess to Asuna. Neither was something she really wanted to do.

Shino froze.

' _I do,'_ Shino thought frantically. _'I really do want that to never happen again.'_

Her own words rung hollow in her mind.

Despite the horribleness of what she had done, she couldn't fully force herself to feel that it was the worst thing. In the end, she had managed to confess to Kazuto. The one boy who made her feel truly special. It may not have gone down how she had imagined, but it had been positively amazing. Seeing him look at her like that, holding her, and… kissing her.

Blushing at the reminder of the kiss they had shared, Shino's heart started beating fast.

' _I can't believe how good that had felt.'_ Shino touched her lips lightly.

Faintly, it felt like she could still feel the sensation of his lips on hers.

Shino shook her head angrily. That wasn't what she should be thinking about right now. She had to figure out what to do next. As it was, leaving Japan and never coming back seemed like the only course of action she should take. Well, not really, but at least something along those lines.

The sound of her phone ringing brought her out of her thoughts. Picking up her phone, she glanced at the screen before freezing. Her heart tightened and her vision suddenly went hazy at seeing Kazuto's name on the screen. It was hard to tell whether or not she was happy or upset right now. Normally, she was always happy to receive a call from Kazuto. Under the circumstances, she had a feeling she might not like what he would say to her.

In the end, she let it go to voicemail. Maybe hearing his voice message wouldn't be as bad as talking to him.

Shino stared at her phone, waiting for a notification for his message. Instead, her phone beeped and a text showed up. Hesitantly, she opened it.

 _Can we meet later? – K_

"Dummy…" Shino couldn't help but mutter. Wouldn't texting be easier? Meeting in person sounded like a horrible idea. She wasn't sure what she'd do if she met him in person right now. And she didn't want to find out either.

 _I don't think so. – S_

' _Damn, too abrupt.'_ Shino winced as soon as she clicked the send button.

 _Are you upset with me? – K_

' _No, just myself.'_ She wasn't sure why Kazuto was still texting her. Or why he thought she would be mad at him. She was the one who cornered him last night, after all.

 _I'm not. – S_

This time, Shino had to wait a few minutes for a response.

 _Can we please meet and talk? – K_

Shino sighed. She really didn't want to face him so soon. Then again, maybe it was for the best. After all, the sooner they meet, the sooner they can… something. Actually, she wasn't sure what would happen next. As much as she didn't want to find out, she knew that living like this any longer would be Hell. Already, she didn't want to leave her apartment at all. Maybe talking to Kazuto would help clear the air. Maybe they could both forget that it had ever happened? That could work. Nodding to herself, she finally replied.

 _Ok… - S_

 _Great! I'll see you in ALfheim Online after lunch. – K_

' _Great.'_ Shino thought glumly, staring at the text.

Throwing her phone to the side, she fell back into bed. She wasn't sure if she could eat right now. The thought of talking to Kazuto was making her too nervous to do anything. At least, he didn't sound angry or upset over the phone. Maybe he would be ok with the telling no one and forgetting about it. She could only hope. Because if he would, then she would do her hardest to do the same.

Things had been so simple before, even if it had been lonely. With friends came complications. And right now, it was hard to tell if it was worth it in the end. She was more inclined to believe it isn't currently. But hopefully something could be salvageable. It all really depended and what Kazuto wants to talk about. Thinking about it, she couldn't come up with anything reasonable. All of her thoughts about what could happen kept gravitating towards what did happen.

"Hm," Shino sighed tiredly. "Love really does make you crazy…"

And it was definitely love. Even if she had only experienced it through books before, she knew that the emotions she felt when she was around Kazuto was caused by the love she felt for him. It wasn't simple admiration like she had told the others. It was obvious most didn't believe her. That was fine. Even if they knew, they didn't know just how much she loved him. How much she would do for him.

The fact that the main reason Kazuto had the Holy Sword Excalibur was because of her always warmed her up inside. The best sword in the game, in his hands because she had done what no other archer in the game ever could.

' _I wonder if he actually thinks of me in his heart when he uses it.'_ Shino wondered idly, remembering the moment she had handed him the blade.

There were other words she wished she could have said to him then. With the others there, that would've been impossible. She had to be content with what had happened.

Groaning a bit, she got up. At the very least, she would try to have something to eat before meeting with Kazuto. Anything to distract her from the impending confrontation.

* * *

 **OMAKE**

There were a lot of things Kazuto could put up with. Honestly, there was.

Finding out your parents weren't your parents through the internet? Meh.

Being forced to play kendo and being hurt when you don't do well? Big deal.

Being stuck in a game where losing = death? Oh well.

But this? This was a problem. This was horrible. Nothing was more torturous than this.

Grinding.

Kazuto sighed sullenly as he killed his 2,736th pig. And before you ask, yes, he was actually keeping track.

This level couldn't end soon enough.

* * *

 **A/N: Having a chapter with only one character is tough. But I did set it up that way, so… Well, it'll get more interesting after this. How do you think it will go down? An immediate breakup? Becoming friends with benefits? Something else?**

 **Anyway, I do plan on finishing this story. I'm sorry this took a while.**

 **So you know, I'm planning a Tokyo Ghoul one-shot in the future. I read it recently and blazed through everything that's out for it. I'm wondering on the pairing I should write about though. I put a poll up on my profile if you want to vote on that.**

 **Again, reminder, please feel free to follow "stygianhazardff" on tumblr for updates/thoughts about my fan-fiction stuff.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Writing a fan-fic with cheating is tough. Well, the emotions run high. If you think some things should or shouldn't happen, let me know. Reviews do help and are appreciated.**

 **Also, attention, I have a tumblr blog where I post stuff (ideas and questions and thoughts and more) about this account. So… Follow me? The name is "stygianhazardff"**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, and I really wish it was real.**

* * *

' _It's so hard to believe that this game was almost destroyed,'_ Kazuto thought idly. _'And no one will ever know…'_

Ignorance really is bliss.

Despite the massive influx of gamers that had appeared after the Excalibur sword had been discovered and shown off on the news, and the consequential bad ending that almost happened because of the system's self-creating questlines, things seemed to be unchanged for the most part. Although there were certainly a lot more noobs around now. And it showed.

Kazuto glanced around the café slowly. Despite the near destruction of everything by the Cardinal System, life in ALfheim Online was continuing as normal. It was hard to believe that everything really happened. Well, he had proof of the event at least.

Opening his menu, Kazuto raised a hand to cover up his mouth like he was deep in thought. In actuality, he was doing it to cover up the shit-eating grin he had on his face at the sight of Excalibur sitting prettily in his inventory. Even its icon looked for it looked beautiful. Part of him, a small part, felt like crying at the sight.

"I love you." Kazuto whispered reverently to the icon of Excalibur.

"Should I leave you and your new sword alone, Kirito-kun?" A very familiar voice sarcastically asked from behind him.

"W-what?" Kazuto fought the urge to jump out of his chair. He sort of considered doing it anyway after seeing who was standing behind him. The reason he was here in the café. Particularly, a café that he and the others had never been in before, far away from their usual haunts.

Asada Shino.

It actually took him a second to realize it because of how she was dressed. It was as if she belonged to a different faction. She was wearing predominantly blue colored clothing, similarly styled to her usual clothes only with a bit more covered up. Although it still quite a bit of skin showing. The only new accessory was a straw hat covering up her ears.

Kazuto had a feeling that she would also have sunglasses on if they were an in-game item.

"Looking good, Sinon." Kazuto said. Not the best thing to say, considering. But he really couldn't think of anything else. And she really did look really good. His mind flashed to the previous night, causing his face to flush slightly.

"S-shut up!" Shino blushed, looking away from him. "I can't believe you showed up looking like you usually do. What if we ran into someone who knows us? Then what?"

"Then we'll say that we ran into each other and decided to hang out," Kazuto shrugged. Using his foot, he kicked out the chair in front of him. "So come on, sit down. It looks weird for you to just be standing behind me like that."

"Smartass." Shino muttered while walking past him to sit down in the offered chair. She sat down with a huff and glared at him. It would've looked a lot more threatening were she not blushing heavily.

Kazuto's opened his mouth to talk, but couldn't. Now that the banter was over, the reality came crashing down again. Seeing Shino in front of him reminded him of what they had done. What they shouldn't have done. And by the look on Shino's face, she knew that too. Neither of them were able to see each other normally anymore.

After a moment, Shino spoke up.

"Are you mad at me?" Shino asked quietly.

"Huh?" That wasn't what Kazuto had expected her to ask.

"Because I'd understand if you are," Shino gulped nervously, trying not to look at Kazuto's face. "After all, you have Asuna-chan, and yet I…"

"I am mad," Kazuto sighed forlornly. Seeing Shino freeze, he smiled bitterly and shook his head. "At me though, not you."

"Why?" Shino asked him. "I said all those things, and asked you to… to… cheat on Asuna." She finished with a whisper. Staring down at her hands, she felt the familiar empty feeling filling her up. This was it. After having no friends for so long, she finally got some only to lose them because of her own selfishness. She should have known better. Losing her friends wasn't the worst part though. Losing Kazuto was the worst part. Her eyes started to tear up at the thought.

Kazuto scratched his head nervously. This was a sight he was familiar with. A girl crying. Yet despite facing this scene so many times, he was still at a loss of how to stop it. He glanced around, grateful that he'd had the foresight to pick a secluded spot in the corner of the little café. No one could see Shino silently tearing up in front of him. Sighing at his uselessness, he reached over and placed his hand over hers comfortingly.

"It's not your fault, Sinon," Kazuto said firmly. "I should have stopped it. I'm with Asuna and despite that I gave in…"

"I pushed for it," Shino said, looking at Kazuto's hand on top of her own. Part of her wished she could turn her hand over to hold his. But she doubted Kazuto would like that. "I really wanted that to happen. And I…"

"You what?"

"I'm glad that it did." Shino admitted painfully.

' _Oh.'_ There was nothing he could say to that. Gulping nervously, his face slowly turned red. His hand started to shake and he really wanted to let go of her hand but was worried that doing so may set send the wrong message. Not that there was exactly a right message to send in all of this but there was nothing else he could think of doing.

Shino seemed to sense his distress and started to move her hand away.

Kazuto tightened his grip on her hand.

"Kirito-kun, let go of me." Shino whispered. She glared at Kazuto's hand. A part of her wanted to stab it while the other part wanted to enjoy its touch. And the final part of her wanted to kiss him again. She bit her lip nervously as she weakly tried to pull her hand away.

"Not until we sort things out, Sinon." There was no way Kazuto could let her leave like this. For her own sake more than his own. But there wasn't a lot that he could do. And it's not like he could ask any one of their friends for help. For a lot of reasons.

"There's nothing to sort out!" Shino hissed angrily. Behind her, her tail whipped out and stood straight up. A sure warning sign of an incoming attack.

A few people nearby looked over curiously. A quick glare from Kazuto made them look away. A few people got up and left quickly.

"What do we do now?" Kazuto asked tiredly.

"What?" Shino froze.

"We did something we shouldn't have," Kazuto let go of her hand and leaned back into his chair. Looking away, he shrugged helplessly. "And now here we are. What do you want to do now? I don't want us to stop being friends over this. I mean, if we can keep being friends… I'd prefer that."

That wasn't what Shino had been expecting. But then again, it was a completely Kazuto response. Simple and plain. And not what she wanted to hear.

"You really are the worst."

"Huh?" Kazuto blinked, surprised at her response.

"Do you really think that I could forget what happened last night?" Shino accused him calmly. Her eyes were anything but calm though. She glared at him. Not quite hatefully, but it was a really strong emotion boiling in her eyes.

"I-" Kazuto started.

"Do you know what I hate the most about what happened last night?" Shino asked.

"We-" Kazuto tried to answer.

"That it will never happen again." Shino bit out.

Kazuto stared. Treacherously, his heart rate sped up at her admission. A part of him was ashamed to admit that he actually agreed with her to some degree. That one night with her had been more enjoyable that all of his nights with Asuna.

"What's wrong with me?" Shino had given up by this point. There wasn't anything more to say. She sighed and rested her head on the table. Looking off to the side at the wall in favor of not looking at Kazuto. "I ruined everything again."

Glancing down at Shino, Kazuto felt sad for her. After everything she had been through, now this happened to her. While he had been planning on admitting his unfaithfulness to Asuna after this. Now… he couldn't. If he did, he had no doubt that she, along with everyone else, would shun Shino. Possibly him too, if their years of friendship wouldn't help out. But still, Shino didn't have that with the group. So she was the one who would be hurt by this the most. And yet, in spite of that, she went for him. After he had advised her to, not knowing that he was the object of her affection.

Him and his bad luck.

Him and his wanting to help people thing.

Him and his Shino.

"I suppose I should get something off of my chest too." Kazuto said with a false sense of casualness.

"Hm?" Shino moved her head a bit in acknowledgement.

Leaning in closely, Kazuto whispered. "I hate that it will never happen again either."

Shino's head shot up sharply. She looked at Kazuto in incomprehension, her mouth opening and closing silently.

"Cat got you tongue?" Kazuto questioned teasingly. He was proud that his voice didn't crack considering how nervous he was.

Shino's eyes narrowed. "That wasn't funny the first time. It's not funny the 50th time."

"Someday, it will be." Kazuto promised.

"Did you mean that?" Shino asked anxiously.

"Mean what?" Kazuto smirked.

"Don't be an asshole," Shino glowered at him. "You know what, Kirito-kun."

"Yeah, I mean it." Kazuto admitted.

Shino breathed out heavily. Staring at Kazuto questioningly, as if looking for any signs of deceit. With her stats and above average eyesight, Kazuto doubted he could successfully lie to her even if he wanted to.

After a few minutes, Shino looked away embarrassingly.

"Oh." Shino said awkwardly.

Kazuto had to fight not to laugh. As it was, he chuckled into his hand in order to cover the noise up.

"Was that so funny?" Shino asked, without any anger. Instead, it seemed like all emotions had left her.

"A bit," Kazuto confessed. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Shino sighed. She couldn't stay mad at him. It never worked out or lasted long.

"So what now?" Kazuto asked again.

"I really don't know," Shino admitted. "Are you going to tell Asuna?" She seemed to deflate into herself somehow after asking that.

"I was thinking about it," Kazuto said. Seeing Shino freeze, he continued hastily. "But now I'm not."

"You're not?" Shino bit her lip. "Why?"

"I figure it would be in everyone's best self-interest if no one ever finds out about this." Kazuto said, trying not to stare at Shino's lips as she bit them.

"You're staring." Shino deadpanned.

"Sorry." Kazuto tried his best to sound sincere.

Shino licked her lips nervously.

Again, Kazuto's eyes couldn't help but watch.

"Ugh, this is too much." Shino pulled her straw hat down in order to angle it to cover her completely red face.

"I guess we're almost ok now?" Kazuto asked, trailing off questioningly.

"Almost." Shino nodded, finally starting to feel whole again. She hoped it would last once they were with the whole group again.

"Great," Kazuto then grinned and pointed over to the register. "Now how about you go and order some food? My treat."

"Really?" Shino's eyes flicked between the pastries lining the counter and Kazuto's face.

"Yeah, this place has some good stuff. Trust me." Kazuto got up and started walking towards the counter.

Kazuto stopped after realizing that Shino wasn't following him.

"Sinon?"

"You know… People might think we're on a date if they saw us like this." Shino said quietly, looking around nervously.

Most of the other patrons at the café were all in pairs. Not a good sign. And not something her heart could deal with right now.

"Maybe," Kazuto agreed readily. "They'd definitely think that if they knew what we did last night." He joked, grinning victoriously at Shino's scandalized expression.

"Y-you…" Shino stammered out.

"So are you ready to come and order something?" Kazuto stepped forward, holding a hand out for her.

Shino reached out and grabbed it without a second thought. She tightened her grip unthinkingly. This was fine. It would be enough.

Now if only she could actually believe that.

* * *

 **OMAKE**

"So this is Pokémon Go?" Kazuto questioned. "What a horrible AR game. Don't you think that gaming took a huge step back with this?"

"So says the SAO survivor?" Ryōtarō asked incredulously.

"But look at this game!" Kazuto yelled, waving his phone in front of him as if to prove his point. "It's not immersive, we can't play with the Pokémon, there's no plot, no real characters, no trading, no trainer on trainer battles, and the updates suck."

"But at least we won't die by playing this." Rika pointed out.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Touché."

* * *

 **A/N: It's not fine. It won't be enough. lol**

 **The next time they're alone, and in private… Well, you'll see.**

 **Pokémon Go is pretty fun. Since my other continuing fan-fics had a Pokémon Go themed EXTRA/OMAKE, this one needed one too. I hope you liked it.**

 **Next time, they'll be with the group again. Or at least, some of it. A quest may happen. Or maybe they'll do something else. I'm on the fence about that.**

 **Again, reminder, please feel free to follow "stygianhazardff" on tumblr for updates/thoughts about my fan-fiction stuff.**


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